Slow Motion
by Erin Wood
Summary: AU One-Shot. Tate was forced into the drug business when his mother died, leaving him to support the family. Soon, he finds out that pushing the limits has very serious consequences. Warning: Very dark.


**Slow Motion**

_An AU One-shot Based on the song by Third Eye Blind & told in Tate's point of view._

* * *

I slammed my car door and strode across the vacant lot that was abandoned a long time ago. I remember in the early years of high school we'd spend our summers here passing around joints and fooling around. We were all so innocent back then. That was before shit hit the fan. In my senior year, my mother had finally lost her battle with lung cancer. She left my sister, Addy, and I with nothing but hospital bills and a little shack we call home. This was what had pushed me to get into the business, dealing as much as possible to support myself, Addy, and my girlfriend Violet. At first I would only sell, but soon I was using what I was selling as well. It was the only thing that could temporarily stop the gnawing thoughts of my mother, my responsibilities, and the poverty I lived in.

I looked around the lot in search of him. If he hadn't owed me so much money, I wouldn't go after him the way I did. I saw him standing against his car smoking a cigarette at the other end of the lot. He looked so smug standing there; it only made my temper flare up. I ran over to him and grabbed him by the shirt, slamming him against the car, "Where's my money?" I scowled at him.

He dropped his cigarette to the ground and held up his hands in defense, "Sorry man, I don't have it right now. Times are hard".

"But you've still got enough to drive that fancy car and smoke your damned cancer sticks," I rebutted, "While my sister and I are picking through garbage cans for scraps".

He shrugged me off of him and fixed his shirt, "Well maybe if you didn't shoot so much smack you would have enough to support yourself".

"What did you just say?!" I screamed, pulling out the pistol from my pocket.

He held up his hands again, "No, I'm sorry man. I…"

I didn't let him finish his sentence. Without realizing what I was doing, I pulled the trigger and shot him right in the chest. Blood shot back onto my shirt as he slowly crumpled to the ground, writhing as he took his last breaths. That was the last sentence he would ever say. The lifeless expression on his face told me that.

I dropped to my knees; there was no time to waste now. I reached into his back pocket and pulled out his wallet. It was packed with at least ten crisp twenties, "Bastard".

After stuffing the wallet into my pocket, I started to drag his soulless body to the bushes nearby. Suddenly a man called out to me, "HEY!" He yelled, spotting me.

"Shit," I mumbled, jumping to my feet.

I took off running to my car. Starting the engine, I hit the gas so hard that my tires spun in protest. It was only a matter of time before they got me now, filthy cops. When I reached home, I stormed into the bedroom to meet Violet. I quickly explained everything that had happened, "They're coming after me, Vi. Someone saw me dragging the body. We should really say our goodbyes, god knows when or if I'll ever see you again".

Violet looked at me with concerned eyes, "Why is this happening Tate? I'm scared," She spoke, tears starting to form behind her eyelids.

"I'm sorry, this is all my fault. Everything is," I pushed a few strands of hair behind her ear.

By now, tears had started to fall from her eyes in a steady flow. She looked completely worn down. Her hair was matted, her arms bruised from countless needles that had punctured her veins. Her nose was red and irritated. She was a mess. In that moment, I had a sudden urge to kiss her and make everything go away. I leaned forward and felt her cold, chapped lips against mine. This was it; this felt like goodbye. Deepening the kiss, I slowly pushed her down onto the bed. It is hard to describe the act that followed. For the first time in a long time, it was more than sex. It was as close to love as I had gotten in my life. It was just me, kissing her face, her body, as she whispered in my ear.

When it was over, we laid side by side, naked and satisfied. I got up from the bed and grabbed a bag of coke from the dresser. I dumped it onto a book and formed two straight lines with an old business card. One for her and one for me. "Cheers to us, Vi," I said as I felt her standing behind me.

I leaned forward and snorted up every last particle, and she followed my lead. I felt the sudden rush to my head and I grabbed onto the bedpost to steady myself. About a minute passed before I glanced over at Violet. She was staring right at me, right into my eyes, with the blankest look I have ever seen. Blood slowly trickled out of her nose and onto her lip. The color was a fantastic ruby-red. "Strong one huh, Vi?" I chuckled, "Might as well enjoy it. I won't see anything like this behind bars".

She didn't respond. The blood continued to trickle down her chin and onto the floor, splattering as it hit the cracked linoleum, "Violet? VIOLET!"

Violet started convulsing as she fell to the floor. I dropped down next to her and held her in my arms, "Don't you die on me, Violet! Don't you dare!"

By now, her blood was filling the fabric of my shirt, surrounding the previous blood stain from earlier. I held her for what seemed like hours until she finally stopped seizing and lay limp in my arms. I looked into her eyes, but they were glassy and dead-looking. "No…" I whispered, "NO!"

I picked her up, her limbs, limp and lifeless, swung around me. Bringing her to the bed, I set her down and kissed her on the forehead. All I could think about was how I had likely cut the coke with too much draino. Who knows what else she had taken prior to this. It was too much for her fragile little frame. The sickening realization crippled me; I had killed two people in less than two hours. Feeling weak, I swung the bedroom door open and started to stumble down the hallway to Addy's bedroom. "Addy?" I called, banging on her door, "Let me in".

I could hear her talking to herself on the other side of the door, "Addy? Are you eating fucking paint chips again? FUCK!" I screamed.

I kicked the door open with what little energy I had to spare and saw her sitting on the floor, rocking back and forth, "You're going to regret this, Tate. You're going to regret it".

She kept rocking back and forth and repeating these words over and over. I covered my ears and screamed as I ran back into my bedroom and grabbed a needle full of Heroin. I shot it into my arm and fell down against the wall. In a matter of minutes, I felt like I was half-way gone from this world. I stayed like this for a long time, slouched against the wall and staring blankly across the room. I could hear my neighbor yelling as his fist connected with his wife's jaw; her screams of agony.

I don't know how much time had passed, minutes, hours, days? The next thing I knew the front door of the house slammed open and a SWAT team marched into my house with big, black guns. It only took a matter of seconds for them to find me. "Jesus," one of them muttered, as he looked at Violet's expired body on the bed, and then at me.

"Tate Langdon?" He beckoned, his gun pointed at me, "You're under the arrest for the murder of Karl Jones and the plausible murder of this young woman".

I didn't respond. I looked up into the man's eyes and raised my hand to my head, pointing it to my temple like a gun. The man stared back at me, confused. I quickly reached into my pocket and began to bring out my pistol when I heard the sound of what seemed like a hundred guns going off. I felt the first few hit my chest and then I saw what seemed like a slow motion flashback of my life. An innocent boy turned junkie. A naïve boy turned murderer. Now there was nothing left but eternal darkness.

The End.


End file.
